By Ebi Kesiena
Chairman Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, NIDCOM Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, has described the award bestowed on US-based Nigerian, Professor Saheed Aderinto, as well deserved and commendable.
This was contained in a congratulatory message by Head of Media, Public Relations and Protocols Unit NiDCOM, Abdur-Rahman Balogun to Prof. Aderinto.
According to Dabiri, the award has brought glory, not only to Nigeria but to the entire African continent.
Saheed Aderinto, a Nigerian Professor of History at Florida International University, won the 2023 Dan David Prize worth $300,000.
The NIDCOM boss said the academic excellence of Prof. Aderinto is worthy of emulation by all, especially with teeming Nigeria young academicians in the Diaspora.
While commending Prof. Aderinto for the excellence performance, she said the commission and the entire country is proud of his achievement and encouraged him not to rest on his oars.
The Dan David Prize is a major international award that recognises and supports outstanding contributions to the study of history and other disciplines that shed light on the human past.
It is considered to be the “largest history prize in the world.”
The 2023 winners were announced on February 28, with Aderinto, who is a Professor of History and African Diaspora Studies, making the list.
Each of the nine winners, will receive $300,000 to recognise their achievements and support their future work.
The selection committee praised Aderinto’s work “for situating African history at the cutting edge of diverse literatures in the history of sexuality, non-humans, and violence, noting that it is exceptional to see a single person leading scholarship in all of these fields.”
Aderinto was born in Ibadan in 1979. In 2004, he received his Bachelor’s in History from the University of Ibadan and his Ph.D. from the University of Texas, Austin in 2010.
In the same year, he started his teaching career at Western Carolina University, where he became a full Professor of History in 2021. He later moved to Florida International University in 2022.
He has published 8 books, 37 journal articles and book chapters, 41 encyclopedia articles, and 21 book reviews.
His recent book ‘Animality and Colonial Subjecthood in Africa,’ examines the role of animals in Nigerian history. He is also presently writing a book and making a documentary on Fuji music.
Aderinto is also the founding president of the Lagos Studies Association and a senior research fellow of the French Institute for Research in Africa.
The Dan David Prize is “the new MacArthur-style ‘genius grant’ for history.” Selection is by nomination and the awards ceremony will hold in Israel in May.
